Association Between Service Agreements and Frequency of Primary Care Visits in a Chinese Community Health Service Center.

Background: To increase the utilization of Community Health Service (CHS) centers for primary care, the Central Government of China has promoted the use of contracts-known as "service agreements" (SAs)-between patients and primary care physicians. This study sought to identify factors that predict who signed SAs and the association between SAs and frequency of primary care visits in a CHS center in Beijing.

Methods: Four years of electronic health record (EHR) data (2015 to 2018) were analyzed.

Correlation Between Climate Change and Dysphoria in Primary Care.

Background: Concern about climate change may affect mental health. We evaluated the relationship between primary care patients' attitudes toward climate change and dysphoria.

Methods: In 2013, we surveyed 571 adult primary care patients in southern Wisconsin.

The adoption, implementation and maintenance of a school food policy in the Canadian Arctic: a retrospective case study.

With increasing childhood obesity rates and type 2 diabetes developing in younger age groups, many schools have initiated policies to support healthy eating and active living. Policy interventions can influence not only health behaviours in students but can also impact these behaviours beyond the school walls into the community. We articulate a policy story that emerged during the data collection phase of a study focused on building knowledge and capacity to support healthy eating and active living policy options in a small hamlet located in the Canadian Arctic.

Does the Primary Care Behavioral Health Model Reduce Emergency Department Visits?

Objective: To examine the impact of integrating behavioral health services using the primary care behavioral health (PCBH) model on emergency department (ED) utilization.

Data Sources: Utilization data from three Dane County, Wisconsin hospitals and four primary care clinics from 2003 to 2011.

Study Design: We used a retrospective, quasi-experimental, controlled, pre-post study design.

Initial examination of characteristics of patients who are high utilizers of an established primary care behavioral health consultation service.

Unlabelled: Obective: Although much has been studied regarding high-utilizing patients of medical services, no studies have been published regarding high-utilizing patients of integrated primary care behavioral health (PCBH) services. The primary purpose of the current study was to examine characteristics of high-utilizing patients of PCBH services and model adherence. The secondary purpose was to describe the process of conducting this research by clinicians in integrated care.

Impacts of a Support Intervention for Zimbabwean and Sudanese Refugee Parents: "I Am Not Alone".

Knowledge about the beneficial effects of social support has not been used to systematically develop and evaluate interventions to help refugee new parents cope. The purpose of this study was to design and evaluate a social support intervention for refugee new parents. A multi-method research design was used and participatory research strategies were employed.

Exploring Residents' Interactions With Electronic Health Records in Primary Care Encounters.

Objectives: Our objective was to explore and compare residents' interaction with electronic health records during primary care encounters and whether those behaviors differ by residency year level.

Methods: A field study was conducted in which 38 patient visits with 12 family medicine resident physicians were observed and video recorded in two primary care clinics under the umbrella of a university-based department of family medicine. Videos were then coded for gaze behaviors in which patients' and physicians' gazes at electronic health records and at each other were coded using a pre-established objective coding scheme.

Health experiences of Korean immigrant women in retirement.

In this focused ethnographic study, we explored the health experiences of 15 Korean immigrant women after retirement in an urban center in Western Canada. Almost all women began their lives in Canada without adequate personal finances, making their employment essential for supporting their families financially. Most women lived with more than two chronic diseases, attributed to long hours and difficult work conditions.

Mothering in the wake of childhood violence experiences: reweaving a self and a world at the intersection of history and context.

We examined the stories of 12 women mothering growing children at the intersection of personal history (childhood violence experiences) and symbolic, structural, and ideological forces and conditions. Women revealed their determination to reweave a self and a world, that is, to continually reconstruct and reconfigure their lives to change the story for themselves and their children. Women's ability to reweave, however, was facilitated or challenged through intersections with family, networks, single stories, and prescribed rules and routines.

The experience of Korean immigrant women adjusting to Canadian society.

The acculturation process is an important factor in the experience of all immigrants. Although previous studies have indicated the challenges faced by Korean immigrants, little attention has been paid to Korean women's immigration experiences. A focused ethnography was used to examine midlife and older Korean immigrant women's experiences following their immigration to Canada.

Social inclusion/exclusion as matters of social (in)justice: a call for nursing action.

Social inclusion/exclusion involves just/unjust social relations and social structures enabling or constraining opportunities for participation and health. In this paper, social inclusion/exclusion is explored as a dialectic. Three discourses--discourses on recognition, capabilities, and equality and citizenship--are identified within Canadian literature.

Challenges Faced by Refugee New Parents from Africa in Canada.

This study examines challenges faced by refugee new parents from Africa in Canada. Refugee new parents from Zimbabwe (n = 36) and Sudan (n = 36) were interviewed individually about challenges of coping concurrently with migration and new parenthood and completed loneliness and trauma/stress measures. Four group interviews with refugee new parents (n = 30) were subsequently conducted.

Promoting Health Equity Research: Insights from a Canadian Initiative.

In 2002 the Canadian Institutes of Health Research launched a national initiative to promote health equity research reflecting the World Health Organization imperative of investment in health equity research. Funded researchers and teams have investigated health disparities faced by vulnerable populations, analyzed interactions of health determinants, and tested innovative interventions. Strategies for building research capacity have supported students, postdoctoral fellows, new investigators, and interdisciplinary research teams.

Smoking prevention among youth: a multipronged approach involving parents, schools, and society.

The purpose of this research was to examine the perspectives of professionals on youth smoking prevention. The researchers used a qualitative descriptive design with a purposive sample of 9 professionals consisting of elementary school teachers, public health nurses, and tobacco control experts from non-governmental organizations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed for themes.

A pharmacist-guided protocol for improved monitoring of patients on antidepressants.

Background: Local guidelines recommend that patients treated for depression receive 3 follow-ups within 12 weeks of antidepressant initiation; however, this is often not achieved in practice.

Methods: A monitoring protocol was implemented as a quality improvement project at Wingra Access Medical Center in which patients treated for anxiety or depression received a follow-up phone call 1 to 2 weeks after starting an antidepressant.

Results: A retrospective chart review demonstrated the percentage of patients achieving 3 follow-ups within 12 weeks significantly increased from 7% to 24% following implementation.

Critical feminist narrative inquiry: advancing knowledge through double-hermeneutic narrative analysis.

Critical feminist narrative inquiry is informed by the theoretical triangulation of critical, feminist, and symbolic interactionist perspectives. We first locate this approach within narrative research and identify the epistemological underpinnings and assumptions supporting this innovative methodology. The analytic and interpretive objectives and processes involved to achieve a double-hermeneutic narrative analysis are detailed.

Promoting gender equity through health research: impacts and insights from a Canadian initiative.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently identified major knowledge gaps regarding gender and sex as determinants of health. Canada recognized the importance of mobilizing research, and informing programs and policies focused on promoting the health of males and females across their lifespans by creating a national research institute that is focused on the study of gender, sex and health. No other country has created a national research institute dedicated to gender and health.

You cannot wash off blood with blood: entering the mind through the body.

The old Zen saying, "You cannot wash off blood with blood," refers to the conviction that it is difficult to control thoughts with other thoughts. This saying implies that the way to control the mind is through the body. In Zen meditation (zazen), this is accomplished through the regulation of breathing and posture.

The search for safety, control, and voice for mothers living with the legacy of childhood violence experiences: a critical feminist narrative inquiry.

We explored the experiences of 12 women who mothered their children while they encountered challenges stemming from the legacy of childhood violence experiences. We examined the participants' narratives through critical, feminist, and symbolic interaction lenses to locate the forces and conditions facilitating and constraining women's mothering choices and decisions. Women's stories revealed their agency in the face of enduring distrust experiences.

Where there is smoke, there is stress: low-income women identify support needs and preferences for smoking reduction.

Efforts to assist low-income women with tobacco reduction and cessation have typically not been informed by assessment of their needs and wishes. This multi-site qualitative study focused on assessing 64 low-income women's support needs and intervention preferences. These women were interested in smoking cessation, but identified many barriers and needed appropriate supports.

Impacts of a support intervention for low-income women who smoke.

The objective of this pilot study was to implement and evaluate the impact of a support intervention tailored to the assessed support needs, resources and preferences of low-income women who smoke in three Canadian cities. The support intervention, informed by theoretical foundations, provided holistic one-to-one and group support over 14 weeks. The support intervention was facilitated by trained professional and peer facilitators.